We've all heard the horror stories of what happens in the mainstream meat market: the pink slime chicken nuggets, E.coli outbreaks and cruelty to animals - just to name a few of the monstrosities.

What if we could do something at a local level to change that?

This is the idea behind Olympia Meat Collective, an organization that aims to teach the community about getting meat from the farm to the table.

Based on a successful meat collective run out of Portland, Ore., Olympia Meat Collective will teach students about raising animals, butchery and charcuterie.

"Olympia is placed in the center of miles of rural area," said Camis Davis, who founded Portland Meat Collective and earned more than $30,000 in a Kickstarter campaign to help bring the model to other cities. "It's not too long ago that people got meat from their neighbors - there's a history there."

Joel Hansen, Brian Wilson and James O'Keefe, all students of Davis and all from Olympia, are from different backgrounds. Hansen is a financial advisor studying nutrition; Wilson is the city of Olympia liaison, whose grandfather was a butcher for 40 years; and O'Keefe owns a business called "Holistic Hog," in which he teaches people to raise, slaughter and butcher pigs on their property.

Together, they are the genesis of Olympia Meat Collective.

"We feel that there is a major disconnect between people and their food," Wilson said. "It's commonplace to not know where your food came from or even to know exactly what you're eating. Olympia Meat Collective aims to teach Olympians how to get more connected with what they eat and more educated about the product."

The classes, which run around three hours long, will explore cow, duck, pig and lamb. The first class, July 13, is Basic Pig Butchery. Davis will travel from Portland as a guest instructor.

"Butchery is not rocket science if you are taught well," she said. "The seams that are in the muscle and in the meat are like a map. We all think these are big burly guys doing butchery, but it's not a lot of muscle. It's more finesse."

Students not only will gain basic butchery skills, but also will have something to show for it. Each participant will go home with 30 to 40 pounds of pork.

"Imagine a paper grocery bag completely filled to the top with meat," Wilson said. "That's what you'll be getting. Freshly slaughtered, USDA certified, happy animals."

For more information and to register for classes visit www.olymeat.com.